My first Tube Amplifier

Dynaco st-70. I thought I had a killer amp in my Adcom 555, back in the 90's. The Dynaco was bought just to see what the fuse was all about.  I loved reading Stereophile mag. At the time. I was hooked. From there I went to Quicksilver, Audio Research ,Cary, Mesa Baron,
SET 300B, 2A3, 45.
45 was the best. But I did not like having to use horns to get volume from it.
I have settled on El-34 based tube amps of 40-60 watts/channel, in order to use more "conventional" types of speakers. I am back to Quicksilver Audio.
They have a touch of SET magic, although they are push pull ultralinear. Mike Sanders is a genius.
If I had to go solid state, I can live with Pass Labs amps.

@ramtubes, Yep Roger, it was those expensive Jadis that my $20,000 price point was referring to. Brooks had them and the almost equally expensive VTL’s in his main room, driving (usually) Wilson speakers. The Jadis are beautiful to look at, have great fit & finish, and those massive transformers! But what is their price buying you, in terms of sound? Why is it a seriously flawed design (your example above) can find favor with some audiophiles? Are they listening with their eyes ;-) ? Or are such matters not what actually determines the sound (or lack thereof) of an amp? If an amp can have such an obvious shortcoming in it’s design, what does that say about the talent of it’s designer? And what other design flaws lie hidden within it’s beautiful exterior? John Atkinson’s reports often reveal them, but audiophiles don’t "believe" in bench test results, thanks to the writings of Harry Pearson and other purely-subjective reviewers. Harry also introduced the disgusting-to-me term of "High End" into perfectionist audio (J. Gordon Holt’s preferred term), leading to the belief that price equals performance. ’Taint necessarily so.

I neglected to mention.....Brooks’ tech Tom Carione was in the shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays (and remains so, the shop now run by Brooks’ widow Sheila), and Saturday was my regular visiting day. I can’t tell you how many times I would enter the shop and see Tom at his work bench, a Jadis amp sitting upside down on it, taken apart for repair. Not once did I see a Music Reference amp like that! I also never saw a MR amp on the used product shelves, but lots (and lots) of ARC’s. Tom showed me the scorches around the output tube sockets on the circuit board in all of them. Make of that what you will.

Have been switching between SS and Tube last 15 years, finally Tube has kept me engaged with lush and warmness.Currently  own Audio note Oto and Luxman MQ-38